Words & Lines & Bookish Things

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner : space and shipwrecks and also SPACE

THIS WAS PURE INSANITY.

Okay, first things first: one thing you should know about me is that one my all-time favorite movies (rivaled only by my one true love, A Quiet Place) is PASSENGERS, the Jennifer Lawrence/Chris Pratt one. Basically, it’s about this spaceliner with 80K+ people on it stuck in hibernation until they get to their destination, but something glitches and one passenger wakes up … 90 years early. Alone. It’s angsty and space-y and existential, aka my kind of movie.

It’s THIS Passengers, not the other one.

THESE BROKEN STARS seemed to be, on the outset at least, exactly like that, but for the bookish crowd. And I mean, I’m a space nerd and Passengers is my fave, so I was curious to see how TBS would compare.

And guys. GUYS. This was just … insane. INSANE. And what shocked me even more than that plot twist (UGH THAT PLOT TWIST) was the fact that THESE BROKEN STARS topped Passengers. Which is not something I say lightly. Like, what the hell was that. Where did that awesomeness come from. Who even am I.

If you came here looking for a comprehensive review … hahaha what even is that. No, what will follow is a list of things that made me flail wildly. A list of loves, if you will. It’s very helpful. I think. Because how many intense feelings did I have while reading this?

But before we bring out the masterlist, let me get something out of the way. This was a 6 star read straight from bookish heaven, and I mean, of course it isn’t perfect. I can mention how the mysterious transcripts at the beginning of each chapter were redundant and unnecessary and detracted from the tension. I could mention the repetitiveness of the pure survival chapters. I could mention these little things, but I don’t want to because I frikkkkkkin loved the book.

OKAY. Now we can bring the list out.

L I S T OF L O V E S

– THE SPACE INTRIGUE. I dislike, nay, I HATE space books with alien beings and evil companies and the like, because for me, it reads as a missed opportunity. I mean, the villain in space books should be SPACE (like how it was in Passengers, and here too). It’s a ginormous black void of darkness and quiet and I mean ??? Come on. I love it when the antagonist is space itself, not some gimmicky villainous thingy (Illuminae kinda understood this and kinda not, but TBS is so much better than Illuminae, so.) And this is acknowledged here, and I’m bursting with love.

– My idol and role model, Lilac Rose LaRoux. She’s just AWESOME. She’s the perceived as the snobbish “princess” with a spoiled and pampered life, but like, she was so much more than that.

– My one true love, Tarver Merendsen. AKA the “lowly” war hero who’s inner thoughts are just hilarious and whose gentlemanliness shall not go unacknowledged in his review. His dynamics with Lilac were just so … *clenches fist* GOOD. And even though he was frustrated with her initial lack of experience, he was never forceful or cruel. Bless him omg.

– THE BANTER. Gimme all of frustrations of two people who hate each other stuck in the same place and dependent on each other to survive.

– The writing is legit GOALS. ‘Nuff said. Actually, no, let’s roll with that. It provided the perfect amount of detail and during the heartrending scene it just EVOLVED all of a sudden into lyrical perfection? Like how ???

– All the space geekery. Yes to hyperspace and theoretical nonsense and monopolistic corporations being shady. Yes to all the talk of escape pods and hotwiring and creepy voices.

– THAT ONE SCENE STRAIGHT FROM STRANGER THINGS. You know the one. Those Joyce Byers vibes were felt deeply, man. I love ’em. (even tho this was written before both Passengers and Stranger Things? So please give this the same love too?)

IT’S THIS SCENE, IN CASE YOURE WONDERING

All in all? I lack any other ability to convince you to pick this up. Like seriously. And if you’ve read this, please come yell with me. I need it.

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About Me!

Hi guys! I’m Nina-Tala: a painter and a book-devourer from Houston, Texas. I like to think I’m a good piano-player. I adore anything and everything high fantasy. I want to be a cross between Lila Bard and Kestrel Trajan when I grow up. Black coffee is the best coffee.